Master of Applied Science / Research into rehabilitation outcomes shows that people recovering from stroke experience serious role loss. Despite this, many occupational therapists working in the area of stroke rehabilitation do not allocate time to therapy designed to achieve specific meaningful role resumption or development for their clients, instead focussing most of their therapy upon the restoration of function at the performance component level (Brodie, Holm, & Tomlin, 1994). Occupational role performance is an area of knowledge that has been neglected within the profession. Little is known about the use of the concept by the role performer. A naturalistic study was undertaken to provide descriptive information about the self-perceived occupational role performance of men over 65 who have had a stroke, and to investigate the possibility that occupational role was a construct used by the participants to organise their occupational performance (Chapparo and Ranka, 1997). Thirteen participants were interviewed in their own homes. Inductive analysis of the data produced the following findings. There was evidence that participants did use role as a construct to organise role performance in terms of meaning, personal abilities and time. This organisation incorporated a large degree of choice about how roles were performed. Choices were made in relation to perceptions of environmental demands and informed by previous experience and personal standards for role performance. A preliminary model of self-perceived occupational role performance was developed from the themes identified in the data. The constructs of the model represent the factors identified as contributing to the meaning, motivation, planning and performance of occupational roles by the participants in the study. Each major construct has a number of sub-constructs, and construct definitions were produced. The relationship between the constructs is thought to be complex, and were considered beyond the scope of this descriptive study. The three major constructs of this model are Active Engagement, Personal Meaning and Perceived Control. The three constructs relate to doing, knowing and being as described in the Occupational Performance Model (Australia) (Chapparo and Ranka, 1997). Active Engagement describes the nature of occupational role performance and is principally related to doing. The construct of Personal Meaning strongly influences Active Engagement and is principally related to being. The last construct of Perceived Control relates to the reasoning of the participant about his role performance, and is principally related to knowing. Perceived Control informs Personal Meaning in terms of the perceived outcomes of Active Engagement. The major outcome of this study has been the detailed identification and description of a number of constructs that relate to both the internal and external aspects of self-perceived occupational role performance for the study participants. These constructs extend the Occupational Performance Model (Australia) (Chapparo and Ranka, 1997) at the role level, and can form the basis of further research to develop a model of occupational role performance that would provide a valuable tool for research and for clinical practice.

Master of Applied Science / Research into rehabilitation outcomes shows that people recovering from stroke experience serious role loss. Despite this, many occupational therapists working in the area of stroke rehabilitation do not allocate time to therapy designed to achieve specific meaningful role resumption or development for their clients, instead focussing most of their therapy upon the restoration of function at the performance component level (Brodie, Holm, & Tomlin, 1994). Occupational role performance is an area of knowledge that has been neglected within the profession. Little is known about the use of the concept by the role performer. A naturalistic study was undertaken to provide descriptive information about the self-perceived occupational role performance of men over 65 who have had a stroke, and to investigate the possibility that occupational role was a construct used by the participants to organise their occupational performance (Chapparo and Ranka, 1997). Thirteen participants were interviewed in their own homes. Inductive analysis of the data produced the following findings. There was evidence that participants did use role as a construct to organise role performance in terms of meaning, personal abilities and time. This organisation incorporated a large degree of choice about how roles were performed. Choices were made in relation to perceptions of environmental demands and informed by previous experience and personal standards for role performance. A preliminary model of self-perceived occupational role performance was developed from the themes identified in the data. The constructs of the model represent the factors identified as contributing to the meaning, motivation, planning and performance of occupational roles by the participants in the study. Each major construct has a number of sub-constructs, and construct definitions were produced. The relationship between the constructs is thought to be complex, and were considered beyond the scope of this descriptive study. The three major constructs of this model are Active Engagement, Personal Meaning and Perceived Control. The three constructs relate to doing, knowing and being as described in the Occupational Performance Model (Australia) (Chapparo and Ranka, 1997). Active Engagement describes the nature of occupational role performance and is principally related to doing. The construct of Personal Meaning strongly influences Active Engagement and is principally related to being. The last construct of Perceived Control relates to the reasoning of the participant about his role performance, and is principally related to knowing. Perceived Control informs Personal Meaning in terms of the perceived outcomes of Active Engagement. The major outcome of this study has been the detailed identification and description of a number of constructs that relate to both the internal and external aspects of self-perceived occupational role performance for the study participants. These constructs extend the Occupational Performance Model (Australia) (Chapparo and Ranka, 1997) at the role level, and can form the basis of further research to develop a model of occupational role performance that would provide a valuable tool for research and for clinical practice.

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PhD / People with a chronic illness, such as Parkinson’s disease, often live in the community for many years while the illness becomes progressively more debilitating. Little is known about how such people control the impact the disease has upon their various roles in life. This study employed naturalistic qualitative research methods to investigate how people with Parkinson’s disease and their partners continue to actively participate as members of their social community. Using in-depth semi-structured, focused interviews, participants with Parkinson’s disease and their partners were asked to name and describe roles that occupied their daily activity. They were asked about their most significant occupational roles, what they did in these roles, the knowledge or strategies they employed to deal with barriers to occupational role performance, and the personal meaning such roles held. Four basic themes evolved from the data: the impact of the disease on occupational role performance, or ‘doing’, secondary personal limitations to occupational role performance, secondary social limitations to occupational role performance and cumulative barriers to occupational role performance. Loss of control over choice and manner of engagement in occupational roles was a significant element of all four themes. Sense of self and sense of social fit were identified as major elements that informed participants’ perceptions of control. Participants described a range of diverse responses that they used to actively restore personal control of occupational performance in the face of degenerative illness. Learning new coping styles appeared to be underpinned by a personal set of rules or ‘blueprint’, despite professional input. This blueprint was actualised through a problem identification, problem solving and active engagement cycle that was termed a cycle of control. A conceptual model of a cycle of control was proposed as the final stage of the research. The model represented a way of describing how participants acted to restore a sense of personal control once a specific barrier to occupational role performance had been perceived. The findings of this study support the notion that people with chronic illness, such as Parkinson’s disease, are active and knowledgeable participants in health care, and have occupational histories and experiences that they harness when dealing with barriers to performance. Moreover, the findings demonstrate that people with chronic illness work in tandem with significant role partners to constantly maintain the valued partnership in meaningful occupational roles as the disease progresses. A greater understanding of how people with chronic illness and their partners strive to maintain a sense of personal control can enable occupational therapists to work effectively as ancillary partners in care. A greater understanding of the way in which role partners work together to maintain occupational integrity in their lives would be central to assessment and intervention for community programs for people with chronic illness.

PhD / People with a chronic illness, such as Parkinson’s disease, often live in the community for many years while the illness becomes progressively more debilitating. Little is known about how such people control the impact the disease has upon their various roles in life. This study employed naturalistic qualitative research methods to investigate how people with Parkinson’s disease and their partners continue to actively participate as members of their social community. Using in-depth semi-structured, focused interviews, participants with Parkinson’s disease and their partners were asked to name and describe roles that occupied their daily activity. They were asked about their most significant occupational roles, what they did in these roles, the knowledge or strategies they employed to deal with barriers to occupational role performance, and the personal meaning such roles held. Four basic themes evolved from the data: the impact of the disease on occupational role performance, or ‘doing’, secondary personal limitations to occupational role performance, secondary social limitations to occupational role performance and cumulative barriers to occupational role performance. Loss of control over choice and manner of engagement in occupational roles was a significant element of all four themes. Sense of self and sense of social fit were identified as major elements that informed participants’ perceptions of control. Participants described a range of diverse responses that they used to actively restore personal control of occupational performance in the face of degenerative illness. Learning new coping styles appeared to be underpinned by a personal set of rules or ‘blueprint’, despite professional input. This blueprint was actualised through a problem identification, problem solving and active engagement cycle that was termed a cycle of control. A conceptual model of a cycle of control was proposed as the final stage of the research. The model represented a way of describing how participants acted to restore a sense of personal control once a specific barrier to occupational role performance had been perceived. The findings of this study support the notion that people with chronic illness, such as Parkinson’s disease, are active and knowledgeable participants in health care, and have occupational histories and experiences that they harness when dealing with barriers to performance. Moreover, the findings demonstrate that people with chronic illness work in tandem with significant role partners to constantly maintain the valued partnership in meaningful occupational roles as the disease progresses. A greater understanding of how people with chronic illness and their partners strive to maintain a sense of personal control can enable occupational therapists to work effectively as ancillary partners in care. A greater understanding of the way in which role partners work together to maintain occupational integrity in their lives would be central to assessment and intervention for community programs for people with chronic illness.

The aim with this study was to examine how middle managers in their position in the middle of an organization perceive their occupational role and its possibilities and limitations in the light of leadership in social work. Our study was conducted by qualitative research through semi-structured interviews in a middle-sized municipality in the southern part of Sweden. A total of eight middle managers were interviewed, four operating within the care of older persons and four operating within the care of persons with disabilities. The results showed that the middle managers felt like several groups had different expectations of their occupational role and most of them found that the solution was to prioritize and to be able to decide themselves how their work should be executed. Role conflicts could arise when the expectations between different groups or between other expectations and the middle managers’ expectations of themselves collided. These role conflicts became especially clear when the middle manager did not agree with what the political administration demanded. Conversely, the middle managers also mentioned advantages with operating in a political organization. Generally, the middle managers expressed adequate opportunities to influence their organization and occupational role, despite having several rules and guidelines to follow. Furthermore, the middle managers operating within the care of older persons had their offices together with the staff, whereas the middle managers operating within the care of persons with disabilities had their offices together with other middle managers. While their geographical positions were this different, both sides were generally content with their current position and expressed that it was positive for their leadership and role. Steadily having to balance different tasks and live up to different expectations was expressed as both a difficulty and as the aspect that made the profession enjoyable.

The aim of this study has been to explore how social workers in a Swedish context, who have been on sick leave due to burnout or other stress-related disorders, perceive their occupational role compared to the time before the disorder. The primary focus has been how the social workers view their occupational role after the experience of being on sick leave due to the disorder and if the experience have taught the social workers things they find valuable in their occupational role. This study is based on six interviews with social workers who have the requested experience and have been back to work for at least six months. The theoretical framework used to analyse the results consists of Sense of Coherence (Antonovsky, 2005) and concepts of coping (Lazarus and Folkman, 1984). This study concludes that the social workers differentiates the view and approach towards the occupational role. The social workers do not perceive that they have a changed view of the occupational role, but their approach to the occupational role seems to be different. The experience have also taught them useful things that they practice in their occupational role and advise other social workers to also practice these wisdoms.

Occupational roles are constantly changing in today's society. Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) is a new EU directive that sets requirements for companies sustainability reporting, which may change the occupational role of HR managers. The aim of the study is to investigate if, and in that case, what changes in the occupational role the implementation of CSRD has led to in terms of tasks and role expectations and whether it has resulted in a changed role identity . In order to study whether there has been a change in the occupational role of HR managers, qualitative interviews have been conducted. The theoretical framework is based on the concepts: tasks, role expectations and role identity. The study's results show that the occupational role of HR managers has changed in some respects. A few new aspects have been added to the existing role, but the occupational role has not changed into a completely new role. The results also show that the changed occupational role has not lead to a changed identity. / Yrkesroller förändras ständigt i dagens samhälle. Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) är ett nytt EU-direktiv som ställer krav på företags hållbarhetsrapportering vilket kan förändra HR-chefernas yrkesroll. Syftet med studien är att undersöka om och i så fall vad implementeringen av CSRD har lett till för förändringar i HR-chefers yrkesroll gällande uppgifter och rollförväntningar och om det resulterat i en förändrad rollidentitet. För att studera om det har skett en förändring av HR-chefers yrkesroll har kvalitativa intervjuer genomförts. Den teoretiska referensramen baseras på begreppen: uppgifter, rollförväntningar och rollidentitet. Studiens resultat visar att HR-chefers yrkesroll har förändrats i vissa avseenden. Yrkesrollen har inte förändrats till en helt ny roll utan det har tillkommit vissa nya aspekter till den befintliga rollen. Resultatet visar även att förändringen av yrkesrollen inte lett till en förändrad identitet.

This study aimed to investigate the role, possibilities, challenges and emotional labor of Healthcare Counselors in pediatric palliative care. Through semi-structured interviews with five counselors, a thematic analysis was conducted. The findings reveal a broad and dynamic role, partially unclear, allowing individual shaping. Additionally, the study highlights counselors' capacity to support families during severe crises and discussions about end-of-life matters. The work is both meaningful and emotionally challenging, and coping theory illustrates how counselors manage their emotions using problem-focused and emotional coping strategies. The conclusions emphasize the relevance for counselors, collaboratingprofessions and management in pediatric palliative care.